It has long been recognized in the field of commercial art that an artist can produce a drawing from a static image by optically transmitting that image onto a working surface, such as a canvas or a drawing paper, by utilizing reflective or semi-reflective surfaces.
To accomplish the aforesaid optical transmission of an image, numerous devices have been fabricated (as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,323,415; 3,476,473; and 5,052,797).
The use of reflective or semi-reflective surfaces to accomplish image transmission has one serious drawback. Very often, the transmitted or transferred image is visually obstructed by the artist's hand and/or by the artist's hand-held utensil.
Consequently, when doing their work, commercial artists have adapted themselves to ignore or disregard the obstructed work surface area, as presented by an opaque hand and/or artist's tool. The view of the solid, unwanted hand and/or utensil nonetheless remains a disruptive or annoying inconvenience, which is tolerated and accepted as a natural convention over which an artist has no control.
One of the objects of the present invention is to provide the transmission of an image without an observer having to view the opaque obstruction of his or her hand and/or utensil onto a glass or Plexiglas.RTM. plate positioned above the working surface.
The current invention also seeks to render the illusion of transferring an image to a work surface, such as a canvas or drawing paper, whereby that image appears to be in actual contact therewith, and, therefore, providing a more realistic and more workable view of the image to be reproduced.
Another object of the invention is to give the artist the ability to draw or paint a picture or portrait to a more exact dimension and likeness of a subject without having to contend with the intermittent body movement of a live model.
Still another object of the invention is to prevent any distortion of an image when a foreign object is placed between a second plate made of glass, clear plastic or the like and the working surface, regardless of the object's shape, density or color.
A further object of the invention is to reduce the time normally required to render a portrait or a sketch of a live model or an inanimate object.